Trippy illusion

From the TED blog (Via Jake von Slatt via speigl.org via verylowsodium):

Instructions:
1. Stare at the image for 10 seconds.
2. Look at something -- your hand, a book, your friend
3. Enjoy!

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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maitrix

Seems to not work on me. The normally-problematic horizontal nystagmus must thwart it.
tompolley

Correction: it was May, 1981, not 1979. And we called them gramophones, not Victrolas. The poster regrets the error.

And also regrets both reading Omni as a kid, and admitting it in a public forum as an adult.
Mr_Voodoo

i see dead people.
Anonymous

I get nothing. I think I’m staring too long and the illusion happens to the illusion.
melisslissliss

Motion after effect! This occurs because of the opponent process theory. The neurons that are sensitive the motion of the spiral in one direction and the opposite direction are always firing at a baseline rate. When you look at something like this illusion, the sensitive neurons become excited and eventually fatigue. When you look away, the opponent neurons are still firing at a baseline rate, while the others are fatigued and firing below the baseline. Thus creating the motion after effect.

The same thing happens with Guitar Hero, Rock Band, a waterfall.

And there is a similar theory for color – when you look at something red for a long time and then remove the color, the opponent neurons are sensitive to green, so you see green.
spike55151

I’ve experienced this before after stepping off a bicycle after a long ride…

Your brain gets used to all the scenery swelling toward you and when you stop moving forward, everything around you appears to fall away or recede.
Anonymous

This is very similar to one of the visual effects of 2c-e.
Anonymous

Lol, i stared at it for like a minute and everything in the circle was all distorted and i could only see the center, then the center started getting smaller.
Anonymous

that is exactly what coming up on shooms is like till it gets to be more than that.
Tensegrity

Tompolley: I also remember this from Omni and I don’t regret admitting it at all. Be proud of your nerdroots.
Anonymous

” #2 posted by Adam, April 10, 2009 10:36 AM

same thing happens to me after playing guitar hero for 2 hours…”

I noticed the same thing last weekend, was not expecting it, and rushed over to stop a shelf that wasn’t falling from hitting the ground.
Anonymous

weirdly, this looks exactly the same as the visuals I get when on LSD.
syphax

Didn’t work when looking at my hand; worked pretty well when looking at something like a calendar.
IWood

Great. Now I’m all stabby.
Hubertus

…and look at the lightinthebox dress!!!
Bob

I’m with Syphax. For me it needs to be something with an obvious texture or pattern on the surface for the effect to happen. I also have to stare longer than 10 seconds
pajp

Dammit. Now I must play Guitar Hero.
strider_mt2k

Nice!
Thank you!
lhopitalified

Melisslissliss: neural fatigue is NOT a valid explanation for most aftereffects, due to the differing timescales (milliseconds for neural fatigue, seconds-hours-days for various aftereffects)

It also helps to fixate on one point when staring at the image so that the stimulus is in the same direction (inward or outward) over the same visual area during the adaptation period.
xanderkale

very nice effect. i love stuff like this.
Anonymous

Neural fatigue is exactly what’s responsible for this motion image aftereffect, though.

I used to teach psychology and this illusion would kill my students every time I showed it to them. It’s a great demonstration on how we can’t always trust our perception of things.
Jason Rizos

Is it true that this thing damages chromosomes?
Anonymous

Black hole sun, won’t you come, and wash away the raiiiinn!
DWittSF

There are other, similar effects, a la moirÃ© patterns. Here’s one I did a few years ago:

http://studiodwitt.net//demo/anim/demo.php?demo=symmetry1c

The ‘action’ comes from the converging black and white lines becoming too fine for the eye to focus on, so the ‘focus jump’ causes the visual action and aftereffects.

Just a warning, it’s a bit stronger than the parent;)
nickvdg

We’ve been playing with some of these recently and have posted a bunch on youtube, here’s one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh3T6Vmig74&feature=channel

Some work best when you look at type or other detailed things.
Neslock

I made my cat watch this and she seems very confused afterward.
Anonymous

This illusion was created by the late, great magician and optical illusion designer Jerry Andrus:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4180902345051763891
ian_b

I had an old c++ program that would let you edit variables for this effect. It was very interesting, as the time, number of rings, and line width would all alter the effect.
jonjonz

Does nothing for moi.

Well, it does make a very weak kindof curious effect like a funhouse mirror, but it only lasts for a second or so.
Blackhat

Nothing. What’s it supposed to do, anyway?
Anonymous

Is this real life?
zeroy

I get nothing. Am I on LSD? Again?
Anonymous

Dosnt work when drunk three glasses of red wine.
jere7my

You can get a similar effect by watching the credits after a movie (without looking away). When the studio logo comes on at the end, it appears to be sliding downward on the screen, to compensate for the upward motion your eyes have become accustomed to.
Anonymous

Neave Strobe works better.
MrScience

I have had a different optical illusion (appears animated, but isn’t), modified to be a repeating surface, as my desktop. :)

http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/index-e.html
apoxia

Definitely neural fatigue. I learned this one in first year psychology.
dculberson

MrScience, the guys at “Wallpaper from the 70′s” sell a wall paper that looks like the “rotating snakes.” I always threatened to do the wall at the top of my stairs, causing people to go tumbling down them in confusion.

Here’s a link:

http://www.wallpaperfromthe70s.com/product_info.php?info=p218_Veruso-illusion.html
Anonymous

Do I need a medic if it has no effext on me?
zooniedog

the spinning fractal art..to be so enslaved
a part of us remaining…
wherever we have been.
old skool is new
Anonymous

Can anyone explain why some of us see nothing (who are not on drugs)? I am extremely nearsighted, and wearing corrective lenses. That is the only thing obviously different about me or my brain that I can think of.
Anonymous

Uzumaki!
jphilby

Yes, oh master! What did you need of me now?
DanielZKlein

Actually when I looked at my hand afterwards I started moving my fingers closer together to compensate for the perceived movement. Trippy! What my fingers tell my brain and what my eyes tell my brain don’t agree.
TotalForge

All Hail HypnoBoing!
must… buy… Cory’s… books…
eustace

Ten seconds is barely enough – stare at it, just a bit unfocused, for at least half a minute. The effect will begin to happen to the image itself, giving it’s outline quite a vivid oscillation.
JoshP

@operator99
My thoughts…for a second I was back in 98′ tho.
Takuan

needs HypnoToad sound.
melisslissliss

LHOPITALIFIED: actually it is the reason. I just finished a class on Sensation & Perception that spent a great deal of time discussing / explaining this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_aftereffect
Adam

same thing happens to me after playing guitar hero for 2 hours…
Anonymous

It doesn’t work if u r trippin or stoned…. just an observation….
Anonymous

Nothing. I tried staring longer and still nothing.
Felton

Aaaaa!! My skin is crawling.

Takuan@1: All hail HypnoToad!
nutbastard

my friend had this pattern on a little metal spinning disk when we were 16.

the weirdest thing we found out about it – it doesn’t work on LSD. whatever part of your brain this thing tricks, it isn’t fooled when yer on one.
Anonymous

@ #2 Adam, I came to the comments page to say the same thing. Staring at those damn dots on the screen, and then looking away makes the walls melt.
Hans

Try staring at the ring and then the solar wind video image in the previous post. The stars become animated! Good stuff.
operator99

Ah, 1968 all over again.
Gilbert Wham

Doesn’t work on me – must be all the acid. Those 3D posters everyone swore had dolphins or whatever on ‘em in the ’90s never worked on me either.
needlemacher

I stared for nearly a full minute (after 10 seconds didn’t have an effect) – does alcohol affect it? ‘Cause I ain’t getting anything….

Maybe if I knew what it was I’m supposed to get out of this…those damned hidden images never played out for me either….
Anonymous

step 2. look at the zipper dress!!!
tompolley

In about 1979, I cut one of these out of an Omni magazine and put it on my Victrola, as we called them at the time. I remember my 12 year-old self thinking, “wow! If only there was a pill you could take that would do this!”

See kids, dreams really can come true.
Merrik

Driving a tractor for extended periods of time while trying to stay aligned with the rows in the field from previous work (a task that forces you to basically stare at the edge of the front wheel) has a similar but more enchanting effect. Everything looks like it’s floating upwards, but never moves. It’s pretty sweet.
Anonymous

I remember Pinwheel! Surprised about the ‘doesn’t work on drugs’ responses – when I was in highschool a friend and I watched this right as we started to trip and proceeded to spend at least the next hour on the floor laughing hysterically because the motion imprint wouldn’t go away and trying to walk down a narrow hallway was just too much.
Takuan

anyone who ever worked the line knows enough not stare at it.
Anonymous

… then login as root
kaosmonkey

Ouch. Instant migraine. Those patterns twist my brain just a little too much. Wonder if it has anything to do with my severe tendency towards motion sickness?